2- The Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonpl.)

2.1- Introduction The Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonpl.) is an Amazonian plant that prefers nonflooded forest (terra firma) in the Guianas, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The Brazil nut is a large tree, reaching 50 m (160 ft) tall and with a trunk 1 to 2 m (3.3 to 6.6 ft) in diameter, making it among the largest of trees in the Amazon rainforests. It may live for 500 years or more, and according to some authorities often reaches an age of 1,000 years.[1] The stem is straight and commonly without branches for well over half the tree's height, with a large emergent crown of long branches above the surrounding canopy of other trees. The bark is grayish and smooth. The leaves are dry-season deciduous, alternate, simple, entire or crenate, oblong, 20 - 35 cm (7.9 - 13.8 in) long and 10-15 cm (3.9-5.9 in) broad. The flowers are small, greenish-white, in panicles 5-10 cm (2.0-3.9 in) long; each flower has a two-parted, deciduous calyx, six unequal cream-colored petals, and numerous stamens united into a broad, hood-shaped mass. Source: Brazil nut - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2.2- Current practical uses Brazil nuts and its oil are mainly used as a food in the United States. Brazil nut oil is clear yellowish oil with a pleasant, sweet smell and taste. It makes a wonderful light oil for salad dressings: try combining it with raspberry vinegar for tasty vinaigrette. In addition, Brazil nut oil is often used in soaps, shampoos, and hair conditioning/repair products in South America, and this use is beginning to catch on in the United States as well. It is a wonderful hair conditioner, bringing shine, silkiness, and softness to hair and renewing dry, lifeless hair and split ends. Brazil nut oil in skin creams helps lubricate and moisturize the skin, provides antioxidant benefits with its high selenium content, helps prevents dryness, and leaves skin soft, smooth, and hydrated. Source: Brazil nut - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2.3- Future of Brazil Nut Production Until now Brazil nuts have been gathered mostly from wild trees. In recent years, Brazil nut production has declined because of deforestation, the exodus of Brazil nut gatherers to large metropolitan centers, the flooding of some traditional Brazil nut stands, and perhaps because of disruption of pollinators caused by fires during the dry season when Brazil nut trees are in flower (Kitamura and Müller, 1984; Mori and Prance, 1990b). If traditional methods of Brazil nut production are to be maintained, very large extractive reserves will have to be established in areas of high Brazil nut tree density. However, those interested in the preservation of tropical nature should be careful not to equate the establishment of extractive reserves with the maintenance of Amazonian biodiversity. Because Brazil nut gatherers and rubber tappers do more than just gather Brazil nuts, they often have a negative impact on plant and animal diversity. Indeed, extractive reserves may become little more than secondary vegetation with economic plants such as Brazil nut and rubber trees scattered here and there. Therefore, the establishment of extractive reserves does not negate the need for well planned biological reserves. The future success of Brazil nut plantations is still open to debate. Until now, there have been no examples of economically successful plantations of this Amazonian tree. All attempts at growing tropical trees in plantations that do not naturally grow in nearly monotypic stands have been failures. In their native habitat, Brazil nut trees are distributed more or less scattered in the forest in much the same way that rubber trees grow. The economic disaster of attempting to bring rubber into plantations within its home range has been well documented (Hecht and Cockburn, 1989), and there is no reason to believe that Brazil nut plantations in Amazonia will not meet the same fate as the Amazonian rubber plantations. Careful observation of the Aruanã Plantation over the next decade may allow us to determine if Brazil nut production in plantations is a viable alternative to collection from wild trees. If plantations are viable, then conservationists will have to be prepared to assess the impact that plantations will have on the maintenance of extractive reserves. Finally, it is important that we do not place too much hope on Brazil nut extraction as an economically viable way to support an ever increasing population in Amazonia. In the first place, world markets may not be able to handle much of an increase in Brazil nut production, and, in the second place, such low intensity use of land is not capable of supporting human populations at the level needed to increase the standard of living demanded by more and more people. If Ewel's (1991) estimates that hunting-gathering and shifting agriculture can only support one person per 5 square kilometers and one person per square kilometer, respectively, are correct (there is no reason to believe they are not), then extractive reserves will do little to absorb population growth in Amazonian countries. The future of extractive reserves and humanity's ability to preserve a representative sample of Neotropical biodiversity depends on the success of controlling population growth and consumption both inside and outside of the tropics (Erhlich and Erhlich, 1990). Source: The Brazil Nut Industry - New York Botanical Garden